Artist and community activator Milenko Matanovic was born in 1947 in Ljubljana, Slovenia (then the republic of Yugoslavia). His unique, art-centric facilitation process for uniting multiple voices around a common goal began in the 1960s as a founding member of the Slovene neo-avant-garde movement OHO (later to become the OHO Group) — a collaborative of visual artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians and theorists. Using visual poetry, drawings, paintings and objects, Milenko challenged the status quo of what art was and how we experience it.
In recognizing nature and landscapes as art in their own right, he realized that everyone, by way of everyday interactions with their surroundings, was an artist. This viewpoint, which flew in the face of traditional definitions of art and artists, quickly graduated to conceptual projects, actions and happenings where he explored how democratizing art fostered equality.
In 1971 Milenko spent a year and a half with the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland nurturing his musical passions as their music and educational director and then immigrated, in 1973, to the United States where he traveled the country performing original folk music with his wife, singer and storyteller Kathi Lightstone.
His experiences growing up under a vastly different political system were a stark contrast to the American way of life and these observations were also incorporated into Milenko’s creative process of pushing art into life. Milenko founded the non-profit Pomegranate Center outside of Seattle, Washington in 1986 to use this methodology for helping communities resolve real-world problems. During his decades’ long tenure as Founding Director, he worked on dozens of projects a year facilitating livable city design throughout the U.S. and around the globe.
Milenko stepped away from his job as Director at Pomegranate Center in 2017 to focus on sharing his experiences and knowledge through consulting, community facilitation projects, and articles and speaking engagements. He also continues to create visual art that represents his principles of equity among all and power to the people.
Milenko has two daughters, Anya, an internationally-renowned opera singer, and Katya, a fellow community activator who helped develop the Pomegranate Method. Milenko’s art has been featured in high-profile exhibits including at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ljubljana, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York, and the Venice Biennale. The Matanovic family recorded a number of albums including Good Morning Good Night, which won a Parent’s Choice award in 1987. He has served as an Affiliate Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington, College of Built Environments since 2013.
You can view and download Milenko’s curriculum vitae here.
